Saturday, November 19, 2011

easy as pie






Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  As hard as it is to believe, the day will be full of normal work and school routines here in our community.  This is one American holiday I really miss. But our family has plans to celebrate anyway!

Homeschooling gives us the option to take an easy week scholastically; we'll focus instead on domestic arts and science; baking and cooking and decorating together to prepare to share this Thanksgiving with others.

Some of our very favorite Thanksgiving menu items are the pies. Toll House chocolate chip pie, apple pie, more Toll House pie, cherry pie, and did I mention Toll House pie?

“Cut my pie into four pieces, I don’t think I could eat eight.”
 -Yogi Berra

*True story...I once gave a Toll House pie to a friend for Thanksgiving.  She called me a few hours later and whispered into the phone, "I just ate the WHOLE thing!!!"


Today I'd like to share my mom's amazing pie crust recipe, a light, crispy crust that melts in your mouth, and a recipe that truly has never failed me, even though I'm not someone who spends hours perfecting cooking techniques!


Mom’s Never Fail Pastry

*In a large bowl, mix together:
*4 cups of all-purpose flour
*1 tsp. salt
*1 tsp. baking powder
*Add 2 cups of refrigerated shortening, sliced thin, and work it in with your hands, or with a pastry cutter.
         
          *Break 1 egg into a 1 cup measure 
          *Beat the egg lightly with a fork
          *Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar  
          *Fill the cup with very cold water, stir it all together, and add to the dry ingredients

Stir the moist ingredients in, but handle the dough as lightly as possible.  If you want to refrigerate it for an hour or so before using, you can, (in fact, you can store this recipe in the fridge for a few days before using it) but I usually start rolling my crusts right away...and like I said, it just never fails! 

And every time I make it, it reminds me of my sweet mom 
and the way she delighted in blessing all of her family with delicious food.

Roll the dough thin.  This keeps the crust from being overly bready.  Then follow the directions for whatever kind of pie you are baking!

*This recipe will make 3 crust rounds - enough for one double-crusted pie and a single crusted pie, or for 3 single-crusted pies.


Happy Thanksgiving preparations to all of you! 



6 comments:

Betsy de Cruz said...

Thanks for the pie recipe! Blessings on your Thanksgiving week! I figure that living in Turkey, I can celebrate when I want, so we'll have our traditional Friday night Thanksgiving. (This gives me more time to prepare and makes it possible for Turkish friends to be present.)

us5 said...

this sounds like pure silliness, OliveTree, but i truly wonder...can you get turkey in Turkey? we'll be serving 'island turkey' here... aka roasted chicken! i've found an occasional turkey in the grocery store over the past 3 years, but the prices are astronomical!

Judy said...

This past summer,a baseball mom was talking about her wonderful pies and how they always win first prize at a local bake off. Another mom chimed in sharing about a wonderful pie crust recipe she had. The two started naming off the ingredients in their pie crust--and guess what? They were both talking about the same recipe--the one you just shared :)
The cherry pie looks amazing!

us5 said...

wow, Judy! fun story!

The Church Cook said...

I sure will miss your Toll House chocolate chip pie!! And I will take Yogi's advice and cut my pies into 4 pieces...ha! ;)

us5 said...

:) not you, Kay! i know you well enough to know that you haven't a single sweet tooth; you won't even eat a whole 1/8th of that pie!!!